HPD back to full force with addition of Officer Darrell Smith

The Haxtun Police Department is back to full force with the addition of third officer Darrell Smith. Smith started is position with the local department in mid-September and was officially sworn into office on Thursday, Sept. 27. Smith and his wife, Kyla, and their two children reside in Haxtun.

For nearly the past year, Smith has served as a deputy with the Phillips County Sheriff's Office; a job he started last December. "I left the Sheriff's Office to better myself professionally as well as to work closer to home," Smith said of his recent shift in departments. "The Haxtun PD has a slew of professional knowledge and is a good team. I am looking forward to building a good working relationship with their team."

Smith lived up and down the coast of California and in Ohio and Illinois before joining the military after high school. After the military, he moved to Sterling for an accounting job with MV Equipment, now 21st Century. When MV Equipment sold, he changed career paths and joined the Colorado Department of Corrections. DOC is where he met his wife, Kyla, who lived in Haxtun.

"She lived in Haxtun and we decide to stay in the area, bought a house and have been here since," Smith said.

While his formal education is in business/accounting, Smith's law enforcement training began while he was in the United States Navy where he performed tasks as port security and attended specialized training in shipboard security. While with the DOC, Smith attended the Emergency Response Team academy where he received training in all prison weapons systems and riot training. He was named the Bravo Squad leader after completion and maintained qualifications pertinent to the position as well as prison transport, force cell extractions and others.

In is nearly eight years with DOC, Smith served as an officer in the highest general population custody levels, a year as a sergeant working on the minimum security yards and six years as a maximum security lieutenant.

Smith later attended Otero Junior College for his Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training.

"My path to a career in law enforcement started when MV Equipment sold. Most everyone I met after leaving MV Equipment already had an accounting need filled, so I moved into the Corrections field where I was promoted quickly among its ranks," Smith said. "Due to changes in prison and it's reform, I no longer felt that I could continue to work with CDOC. Lucky, I met now Chief Nathon Nadow while on teams at the prison. Chief Nadow had completed his POST certification and was working with the Phillip's County Sheriff's Office. I heard about an opening with the PCSO and reached out to Nadow."

Smith and his wife have two children, both who attend Haxtun Schools; Dilylah, who is in sixth grade, and Bret, a sophomore. Kyla works with the CDOC in armed transports. The couple enjoy hiking and recently hiked at Blue Lake in Breckenridge where the two were married. The majority of their time, Smith said, is split between work, weight training and supporting their children at their games.